Quality Control of 11 Cannabinoids by Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)

Ashraf Duzan; Desiree Reinken; Mufeed M Basti

doi:10.1155/2023/3753083

Quality Control of 11 Cannabinoids by Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS)

J Anal Methods Chem. 2023 Aug 10:2023:3753083. doi: 10.1155/2023/3753083. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ashraf Duzan^{1

2

3}, Desiree Reinken⁴, Mufeed M Basti²

Affiliations

¹ Wingate University School of Pharmacy, Wingate University, Wingate, NC, USA.
² Applied Science and Technology Department, North Carolina State University of Agriculture and Technology, Greensboro, NC, USA.
³ Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Health Professions Division, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA.
⁴ University of Colorado College of Nursing, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.

Abstract

Objective: Cannabinoid extraction from Cannabis sativa L. (hemp) for nonmedical purposes has become popular in the United States. Concerns, however, have been raised regarding the accuracy of the labels for cannabinoid levels in the commercial products.

Methods: In this study, we developed rapid, sensitive, selective, accurate, and validated liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the quantification of cannabinoids. The methods are for determining 11 cannabinoids in cannabis (hemp) extracted in oil form, and we investigated the accuracy of the labeling and thermal stability regarding the cannabinoids on 17 oil cannabis samples.

Results: In the UPLC chromatogram, we see a good resolution and there is no matrix effect and the accuracy were 98.2% to 102.6%, and the precision was 0.52%-8.18%. The linearity of the calibration curves in methanol was with a regression r² ≥ 0.99. The lowest of detection (LOD) was 5-25 ng/mL, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 10-50 ng/mL. The study showed that only 30% of the commercial samples were within the acceptable range of +/-10% compared to the labeled ingredient concentrations. The thermal stability test profile showed a change in the concentration of cannabinoids in each sample at 37°C for one week, with an average loss of cannabinoids up to 15%.

Conclusion: The validated method proved to be selective, accurate, and precise, with acceptable linearity within the calibration range with no matrix effect. The stability profile data indicated that high temperatures could change the quality of commercial samples.